Mother's Day Gift Idea: for the gardener

I am back this morning sharing one last idea for a Mother's Day gift. This one is for someone who maybe doesn't need plants or for someone who gardens but you're not too sure what they like to grow. I know this one might be my favorite but that could be because I have a serious magazine addiction. Mother's Day is this Sunday and I plan on sleeping in, then drinking mimosas with my Eggs Benedict. What are your plans?

To create this gift pot you will need:

- plant pot (Dollarama)

- Magazine (Safeway but I am sure it can be found anywhere)

- chalkboard heart stick (Micheal's)

- Jar (Dollarama)

- sugar hand scrub (recipe below)

Sugar Hand Scrub

{this is perfect for getting that garden dirt off your hands)

Sugar

Dish Soap

Jar

In a small jar, fill 3/4 with sugar, top up with dish soap. Stir to mix together, check consistentcy. You are looking for a thick mix that can be scooped out. Add sugar and continue mixing until you get a thick consistency that you're happy with. I had to add quite a bit of sugar after the initial mix. I tested mine out and it works great.

*Tip: the sugar settles and you will need to mix prior to using. I just shook my jar up and that did the trick.

To see my other gift idea posts from last week you can read here, here & here.

Mother's Day Gift Idea: for the gardener

Today I am back with another gift idea perfect for Mother's Day. You can see my other two posts here & here. This bucket is quite big and I am in love with the wooden handle. I filled this bucket with a variety of bulbs that are all to be planted after the last frost. To my delight I found planting information on the back of the packageing that recommended which plants to plant with which. I purchased all of these to go potentially go together. This was my highest priced gift bucket, the bulbs ranged from $5 - $10.

To create this gift of goodies you will need:

- galvanized pail (Dollarama)

- gardening gloves (Dollarama)

- assortment of bulbs (Home Depot)

- solar lights (Walmart)

Mother's Day Gifts: for the gardener

I am back again today with another gift idea for the garden lover in your life. You can see Monday's gift post here. As I mentioned on Monday I purchased the majority of my supplies at the Dollarama to keep my costs down. I splurged the most on the bags of bulbs I bought. 

To create this gift pot you will need:

- galvanized bucket 

- small planting pot, turned upside down and placed in bottom of bucket to act as stand for the gnome
- garden gnome
- garden gloves
- garden tools
*all the above supplies were purchased at the Dollarama
- bag of bulbs, these are bulbs for Stargazer Lilies (Home Depot)
- solar light (Walmart)

Mother's Day Gifts: for the gardener

Mother's Day is just around the corner and I have a huge itch to buy garden supplies and get planting. I thought it was a perfect excuse to create a bunch of gifts for the gardener in our life. Today I am sharing one of the gift "pots" I put together and with the exception of Tuesday I will be sharing one each day with you. If you have a gardener in your life these will all make lovely Mother's Day gifts. 

To keep my costs down I purchased the majority of my supplies at Dollarama. They have an impressive selection of garden supplies and the highest priced items will only be $3. I also picked up some supplies at Home Depot an Canadian Tire. 

To create this gift pot you will need:
- Plant pot- stuff the bottom with tissue paper (Dollarama)
- decorative bird house* (Dollarama)
- garden gloves (Dollarama)
- assorted seeds (Home Depot)
- plant (this is a sunflower Anna started from a kit purchased at Canadian Tire)

*I have purchased a bunch of these decorative bird houses and am going to spray paint them various colors and hang them throughout our front tree. How adorable and colorful! So excited.

Adventures in Gardening

I have been planting tomatoes & herbs for as long as I can remember being on my own and having a balcony. When we moved to a place with a yard it was a no brainer to build a garden. This year though we Cory built a raised garden by simply boxing in the existing piece of dirt we already had with some wood and filling that with dirt.  It has made such a difference in the growth and success of our plants.

This year we planted carrots seeds, a strawberry plant, 6 or 7 tomato plants (they're so full and wild that I can't tell anymore), herbs, onion and a celery. The celery is an experiment, I took the bottom of an existing celery, soaked the bottom to get roots and then planted it. So far the only thing that has come of it is a plant with lovely leaves. The strawberry plant needs to be picked everyday and Anna loves that! We picked our first carrots this past week and Anna cheered that it was "The Best Day Ever!". Man do I love that kid's enthusiasm!

I planted a variety of tomatoes this year and they are all doing great! I have some very big fruit coming in and I am excited to sit down, cut them up, add some salt and dig in. Garden tomatoes are my favourite. 

We have also dedicated a section of our yard for Anna's garden and her side is doing so great! She checks on it everyday and gets so excited to show you any new developments. Her greatest success has been this pumpkin.I bought it for Anna, she broke it off and basically killed it. I went to throw it away but she insisted she plant it. I told her it probably won't make it but she did not care. Boy was I wrong! This thing has taken off and over! Every morning it is bigger and grown out further! It has pumpkins started and that is so exciting around here! Way to go Anna!

As you can see her tomato is also thriving! We pick from it every day as well. I think my sweet girl has a green thumb that rivals her Momma's.

Spring Fever

The warmer (warmish) weather, the melting snow, the fact that I can see my garden and snippets of green grass poking through the ground has me in a daydreamers paradise  I get butterflies thinking of getting outside and planting. I am itching to go to garden centres and greenhouses. We are building a raised garden this year for our tomatoes & I am so excited! I am also figuring out what works best to kill slugs as they took over last year- not so excited about the prospect of slugs.
Right now I am stealing little snippets of time in the morning to sit in the sun, with my coffee and search Pinterest for beautiful images. I have been planning and making notes for which plants to buy, I usually go and just buy up whatever but this year I am being more deliberate in my purchases. Seriously so excited!
Here are some of my favourites...

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(Did you know you could grow cucumbers up? I didn't. How did I not know this?)

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